Gasconade County Clerk Lesa Lietzow Monday night took the opportunity to stridently defend the work of her office and other election officials in Missouri in conducting fair and transparent elections even as the effort to question ballot counting continues on the part of some supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Perhaps most ironic to many observers is that Gasconade County, one of the most Republican-leaning counties in the state, would get caught up in the effort by a group known as the Missouri Audit Force in questioning the results reported in the 2020 General Election for president. Lietzow was one of two guest speakers Monday night at a meeting of the Gasconade County Republican Club held at First State Community Bank.

Lietzow recounted a long telephone conversation she had recently with Cheryl Bohl of Owensville, who was questioning the election numbers. At issue is what the Missouri Audit Force referred as 47 “phantom voters” in Gasconade County as part of its review of election results in Missouri. The organization was looking at the difference between the total number of votes cast as compared with the number of votes cast for president.

The county clerk said it’s not unusual for such discrepancies, noting that some voters don’t vote in all the contested races or on all the issues on a ballot. “If you think everybody votes on every issue, you’re sadly mistaken. They don’t,” she said.

“What registered with me, and bothered me, was that she was surprised about my knowledge of elections,” Lietzow said of Bohl, who was in the audience and was one of the people asking questions of the county clerk and of State Rep. Dan Shaul, chairman of the Missouri House of Representatives Elections and Elected Officials Committee. Shaul, of Jefferson County, was the other guest speaker.

Lietzow has about 40 years of experience in conducting elections — first as a deputy county clerk and in recent years as the county’s chief elections authority. A Republican, she enjoys broad support from voters in the GOP and the Democrat Party alike.

She also spoke to concerns raised by some questioning the election results regarding Dominion vote-counting equipment. Dominion shortly after the election found itself embroiled in the ballot-counting controversy sparked by Trump supporters claiming the election outcome was tainted. Lietzow explained that the equipment is tested before each election and the tests are overseen by representatives of both major political parties.

“I have Dominion voting equipment,” she said. “I’ve had it si+nce 2015,” she said, emphasizing that the equipment is not connected to the internet.

The internet reference is a component of a symposium held on the 2020 election — and on Dominion voting equipment —  by Mike Lindell, a leading supporter of Trump and television personality famous for his My Pillow commercials.

Lietzow said the notion of connecting vote-tabulation machines to the internet as a way to monitor the legitimacy of the vote is far-fetched. “Mr. Lindell’s idea is to put a CD in my voting equipment and hook it to the Internet. There is no way in hell that’s ever going to happen,” she said.

During his time at the podium, Shaul talked of the work of his committee — and criticized the inaction on the part of the Missouri Senate, of which he hopes to become a member of in next year’s elections. Shaul is term-limited after next year and has announced a run for his area’s state Senate seat.

As for meaningful legislation coming out of the 2022 session of the Missouri General Assembly, Shaul has his doubts. “This year (2022) is going to be an odd year,” he told the GOP Club members. “It’s a redistricting year; it’s an election year; and it’s going to be a messed-up year,” he said.

“There are so many people (now in the legislature) running for higher office,” Shaul said. “It’s going to get very political and very campaigning this session.”